


The Care and Kissing of One Adam Dalton

by gentlesquid_andink



Category: The Brave (TV 2017)
Genre: Anal Play, Boys Kissing, Enthusiastic Consent, F/M, Hand Jobs, Kink Negotiation, Kissing, M/M, Multi, Not Beta Read, Not Suitable/Safe For Work, OT3, Oral Sex, Pre-OT3, Semi-Public Sex, Slow Burn, Sorry Not Sorry, all the kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-05-19 13:08:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14874329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gentlesquid_andink/pseuds/gentlesquid_andink
Summary: Maybe Top accidentally hit on McG...Maybe McG decided to cash in on that raincheck...Maybe we keep going after that...?





	1. Maybe Top accidentally hit on McG...

**Author's Note:**

> What started as a one-shot spin-off from A Matter of Opportunity has taken on a life of its own! First chapter is shifting over from All the Opportunity in the World(s) to start us off here. Feel free to skip ahead to the Chapter 2 for (the start of the) continuation ;-)

Adam wasn’t quite sure he could remember what had started this whole thing. They had a crap day - a crap couple of weeks, really, but today was the worst. Someone had suggested they head off base for some R&R. He definitely remembered Jaz buzzing with that sort of manic residual energy she sometimes got. They hadn’t had any good resolution to the issues thrown their way lately.

Not that there was much he could do about that. If she needed to blow off some steam, she was free to do so. Best he could do was agree when she ordered them shots. And when she challenged him to a series of harmless bets. Maybe offer over his credit card to the bartender to start a tab. The bets got fuzzier and they got fuzzier, too.

Adam felt the strong hand on his shoulder without registering it might be a threat. The fact that he didn’t grab whoever it was over his arm was a testament to how much they had already downed. Jaz was all cheer and big gestures. “McG!!!” she welcomed their fellow comrade to their spot at a pub table. Top could practically hear the extra exclamation points.

When he looked up at him, McG was trying to hold back a smirk. Or a smile. A smirkle. “You got a smirkle?” Adam asked. The medic laughed and clapped Adam on the back. “What we drinking now? Ya’ll started way before me…”

Adam raised his hand and attempted to make eye contact with the bartender. He’d been good to them tonight. You know, now that he thought about it, Adam was pretty sure he caught a look between him and Jaz last time he came around with the bottle...

Jaz was laughing, too. Licked her lips while she watched for a response from the bar. Damn. Looked like her need for him was done, Adam thought. He tried not to let it damper - dampen? Damp? ...was Jaz…? He was not going to get mopey, was the point.

McG turned to his CO. “Awwww. You gonna miss your drinking partner, Top?” His hand was wrapped around Adam’s elbow. Top tried not to lean into him, but he really wanted more of that sureness. That steady pressure. McG always knew what to do, even if he waited for Adam to tell him what we wanted. He might not be hurt, but he was starting to rely on the doc anyway. “I think Jazzy has a ‘friend.’” Was he stage whispering? Top couldn’t really tell.

“Okay. Let’s just move this over here.” Ever the competent wingman, McG used his grip on Adam’s arm to guide him over to another table on the other side of the bar. Adam looked back over his shoulder, caught Jaz writing on a napkin. She was free to be steamy. Or something like that. He knew.

=====> <=====

When McG had them settled around another pub table, he gestured to the waiter making rounds near them. “Can we get a couple waters?” As he walked away, Top thought he heard a “Please and thank you,” under McG’s breath. Now he was in danger of losing both his buddies. That thought unmoored him a bit. Top didn’t want to drift back to base alone, but wasn’t sure he was on his best game at the moment. Damn Jaz and her fucking ninja skills.

“What about her ninja skills?” McG quirked his head to the side. Was he genuinely puzzled? Had Adam actually managed to keep his growing fascination with their sniper more secret than Preach’s knowing looks implied?

“Nada. Nothing. She’s just...got em.”

McG was laughing again, that laugh where his entire pretty face opened up. Adam tried not to look wistful as he watched.

“Yeah, she does. You? Not so much. At least not tonight.”

Was that a flick of McG’s eyes? They were...appraising him. Was it a doctorly assessing? Cause Adam felt fiiiine. He put his hands up on the table, halfway between them. Palms up. An attempt to show he didn’t need assessing. He was harmless.

McG quirked his mouth, looking at Adam’s hands. Holding his CO’s eyes and telegraphing his moves, he circled his fingers around a wrist. Tightened them, looking back down at their hands now as he fastened Adam to this place. The doc held him from following Jaz as she slipped out the door with her dude. Adam’s breath stuttered in. How could something so secure around him feel so temporary? He didn’t want that. He wanted it to last and last until he was done with it.

Adam was just easing into that feeling, that tight ring around him so like McG when he was being stubborn in the field, when he was hurt and wouldn’t give it up, not yet. Except he wasn’t going to be stubborn. Not tonight, ho no. Was he hurting? Cause he didn’t think so. He swallowed and was trying to figure out which words could be put together to explain, to make McG understand it was all good, he wasn’t resisting this time. He could hold his other wrist, too. His hand waved up on the table in an aborted gesture before he could fit the words into an invitation.

And then there was movement and yelling and glass shattering somewhere deeper in the room. They were both jarred out of thoughts and some wicked, half-formed plans. Top stared over McG’s shoulder, trying to locate the source of the scuffle, eyes wandering. He didn’t seem in any rush to act, though, which was more telling to McG than anything up to that point had been: Adam was drunk.

It didn’t happen often. He drank, he just rarely kept going until he was drunk. And this was drunk, McG was realizing.

The skirmish seemed to be getting worse. As a crowd started gravitating toward the direction of the fight, McG stood up from his stool and moved to the side of their table. “Top.” Adam was still sitting, watching the crowd somewhat blankly. But then firm hands were gripping both his shoulders, urging him to stand up, pulling him closer to McG. That’s right, thought Adam. Then McG’s left hand went low, sitting just over his kidneys. A pressure point. Adam wondered at that vaguely. As if he needs one.

They were barely halfway to the exit when a small group of young officers pushed past. He wasn’t falling down drunk, but Adam was slow on his feet. McG reacted quickly, inserting his broad body between the excitable mob and his friend. He used a hand on Adam’s chest to push him back, his other hand on his hip, steadying him. The combination made Adam think of other times, other ways he could benefit from McG’s careful handling.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t have moved further back himself, out of the way, so much as Adam found himself in the space of this man, the one person on the team who had figured out how to get Adam to halt, taught him how to ease himself into accepting care. He didn’t want to move. The alcohol in his veins said he didn’t have to, not yet.

Still looking over his shoulder, McG suggested, “We should get out of here.”

The first thing he saw when he turned back to Top was his teeth pulling his lower lip. Then those steady blue eyes on him. “Yeah.” Top’s voice was rough. “Maybe we should.”

That? Didn’t sound like Adam intended to evade trouble. That sounded like a man who wanted to be caught - McG had certainly heard more than his fair share of them. And fuck all if he didn’t want to listen to this one, too.

But he couldn’t. Certainly not like this. He didn’t move back, though.

“Ok,” he started. “Home first, then -”

“Then…” Top finished by kissing him. Adam. Right there in their bar, at the edge. Not a tentative kiss or a kiss born of comfort. For something so unexpected, this felt sorta inevitable once it started.

Indulging in this kiss meant letting Adam lean up into his chest, push into his mouth, slide his hands down his sides to hold on to the pockets in his jeans. One kiss, the doc told himself. When Adam came up for air, McG moved back slightly and caught his eye. “Definitely not ‘then,’ not this.” He wasn’t sure Adam understood, but he followed just fine as McG looped his arm in his and walked him out the front door. “I might want to take a raincheck, though.”

“Why do you think they call it that?”

“I don’t know, Adam. We’ll figure it out tomorrow, kay?” They’d figure out a lot tomorrow.

=====> <=====

McG insisted on walking Adam to his room. Once there, the alcohol seemed to fully catch up to the man. Being the good caretaker that he was, McG brought him a couple bottles of water and some preemptive meds. He returned to Top still in the place he’d left him, standing in the middle of the room looking a bit unsure of his surroundings. “I don’t know if it’s you, fussing over me like this, or the bottle I drank with -” Adam gestured across the room in the direction of Jaz’s bunk across the hall. McG turned him around to face his bed and rubbed his hand firmly from the back of his shoulder down his spine. “Well,” he very plainly shared, “It’s probably a bit of both.”

Adam leaned back the slightest bit. McG’s hand had landed between his shoulder blades; he pushed steadily until the pressure prompted Adam to walk. “Hmmm.”

“Come on. You need sleep.”

If he were a betting man, which he was, McG would have said Adam was too drunk and too tired (and, really, too frustrated this week) to fight him on it. He would have won: Adam walked forward with only enough resistance to ensure the hand on the center of him stayed firm.

Just before hitting the side of the bed with his knees, Adam turned around. “That an order, doc?”

McG tried not to let his amusement show; Adam could get particularly caught up in his seriousness when he wanted tending to. He thought for sure it was bleeding through in his voice, though, when he agreed. “Yeah, it is.” So he cupped Adam’s cheek and smoothed his thumb over the line where his beard trailed into skin. It was meant to soften whatever blow to his ego Adam might imagine spurred the doc’s mirth. “You good, Top?”

“Yeah." His throat working over the word. "I’m gonna sleep now.” Adam was looking anywhere but at the doc.

McG stepped back. “You do that.” As he was walking to the door he called back over his shoulder, “I’ll come check on you in the morning, make sure your liver hasn’t called it quits.”

=====> <=====

When Adam came to some basic version of awareness, there was a tall figure looming over him. “Jesus, McG! You trying to kill me with a heart attack here?” Adam closed his eyes, trying to stall his senses.

“Might be a kindness, considering.”

“Oh my God.”

Ever the professional, McG handed him a bottle of gatorade and some aspirin.

Even his fingers hurt as Adam opened the drink to take the pills. One whiff of the salty sweet liquid and he forced his feet to hit the ground. He made it to the bathroom only through an extreme feat of self-control over his own gag reflex. McG sat on the side of the bed and waited for him to return. Best he get whatever was left out of his system, he figured. Maybe he should have suggested he empty his stomach last night...

Adam came back from the bathroom with an overly straight, very slow gait. McG could barely believe it, but his CO actually crawled back into bed. His side eye at McG as he settled was only a bit wobbly as he made a plea, “Look, can we not just now?” Adam propped his pillow up against the metal frame and sat back rather gingerly.

McG couldn’t help it. “Looking a bit green there, Captain.”

Eyes closed, Adam took the ribbing and responded in all honesty, “I haven’t been hungover since the last time Jaz and I went shot for shot.” He rubbed a hand through his beard and then over his face. “Also, I’m a bit mortified.”

“Because you let a 120-pound woman outdrink you?”

Adam opened his eyes to get his point across. Aw, thought McG, Dalton’s withering stare was adorable when he was laid up the morning after. He wanted to kiss that pout right off his mouth. “No.” Adam put some extra honesty behind his denial.

“Oh, come on - I hope it’s not because you get a little handsy when you’ve been drinking. Probably does you good to let loose.” McG wiggled his eyebrows while Adam made a face of self-derision. He was never going to hear the end of this.

“Yeah, yep - cute civilian, fine. Back home, absolutely. I hit on a subordinate. A friend.”

Well, shoot. “Meh, I’m flattered, really,” McG waved it off. “Might have even been more than flattered, except I don’t do questionable consent. Drunk, sick…” McG nodded meaningfully down at Adam.

“I’m not sick.”

“You’re not?” McG reached out his left hand. Adam’s eyes were wary and wide as the doc’s careful hand approached his face. The doc used his thumb to rub tiny circles against his temple. Adam’s eyes drifted shut as a slight grunt trailed off into a sound of pleasure. Point made.

McG chuckled a bit and stood up. “You,” he emphasized, “are indisposed.” McG was letting him down easy. But I’m not even making a move, thought Adam. The pounding in his head wouldn’t let him figure out whether he felt disappointed on either score.

=====> <=====

Top probably needed some time to process; the doc would have to time this one right or he’d lose his chance at a harmless hot fling to Adam’s damnable self-control.


	2. Maybe McG Looked Up the Origin of Rainchecks...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes! Sorry for the gap between promising Chapter 2 and getting it to post...

McG was not one to plot. Okay, he maybe was known for engaging in prank wars. And the occasional light-hearted hazing of new team members. But that was, at best, medium-range plotting. Mainly, he was a doer. There was a plan, he carried out orders, improvised as necessary, until they reached their target. 

Every once in a great while, though, McG found himself with a situation that was worthy of investing some serious strategic thought. For example, he settled on a plan not long after an inebriated Top kissed him in a bar just off base. Top’s embarrassment the next morning at having made a move on a subordinate was real, but so was the heat that slipped into McG’s mouth with Adam’s tongue. He wanted more of that - and he was pretty damn sure that Adam did, too. The stakes were too high not to think this one through. Otherwise there might not be any more kissing. 

The plan started with getting Top to make a pass at him again - sober, and preferably not as a self-comfort strategy, either. McG wanted full self-awareness and enthusiastic consent. And he wanted Top to initiate. That was important. 

Didn’t mean he wouldn’t do his damnedest to invite some kissing from his friend and captain. Oh, he made eyes at him when no one else was looking and gave him the best of his banter off-comms. Really set the open and willing tone. He knew Adam was feeling it, too, based on the way his breath got suspiciously even every time McG passed close enough to put a hand on his back or his shoulder or, one time, his thigh. 

Of course, he came to McG with an injury that he was half-convinced was trumped up just to get the doc’s hands on him rather than actually do something about all the flirting. Jaz was off giving Amir lessons in aim and accuracy; Preach was taking his turn on a supplies run. McG was in the kitchen, trying to figure out whether they had sufficient ingredients to bake the chocolate chip cookies Jaz loved. He was starting to think he might need a wingperson for this and Jaz was eminently bribe-able. 

“Hey, Doc?” 

McG turned around from the cabinets to see Top just inside the common area holding his right shoulder. “Think I might have pulled something.”

“Press down too hard on all that paperwork, Top?” He tried calling his bluff, just to see if this was legit. A pulled muscle? He could barely get Adam to self-surrender when he needed actual medical attention unless it was keeping him from accomplishing an immediate responsibility. 

But Top didn’t roll his eyes at McG’s undercutting joke. His eyes were doing that intense pleading thing he usually reserved for Jaz when he was trying to get her to give in to a request he didn’t want to make into an order. Okay, maybe this was legit. McG put down the bag of flour he’d been holding and took a few steps out of the kitchen. “Come here.”

Adam walked over, his gait measured and his jaw tight. McG met him halfway, just past the fridge. “Let me look at you.” McG used his right hand to grasp Adam’s waist on his uninjured side, arguably to brace him for examination. Holding Adam in place also had the lovely side effect of putting him into that really-shouldn’t-be-so-hot cooperative way of being with McG. And maybe McG moved closer to Adam than he needed to be, chest to chest, bellies almost touching. He slid his left hand down Adam’s forearm. “Feel anything here?” Adam licked his lips and shook his head. “No. No, it’s my shoulder.”

“Ok.” McG let his fingers and thumb circle Adam’s wrist; the same way he’d held this hand in the bar last month. He tightened with a brief pulse and watched Adam swallow. “Can I try moving your arm a bit?” Adam’s face tightened in anticipation, but he nodded. He knew the doc wouldn’t do anything without explicit permission. Best to get this part over with. 

Still clasping his wrist, McG moved Adam’s arm up until it was parallel to the ground. He rolled it forward with little resistance from his patient, but as soon as he tried rotating it back, Adam gasped and screwed up his face in pain. _Well I’ll be damned,_ McG thought. He really was hurt.

_Which means no making out,_ came quickly on the heels of that realization. McG was fairly certain his disappointment showed on his face. He didn’t even try to hide it.

“That is, in fact, one injured shoulder.” He removed his hand from Adam’s waist and took half a step back. “We should wrap it, keep it immobilized for as long as we can. A few days, at least, if you can keep Patricia off our call sheet. Alternate heat and ice - you know the drill.” McG took a few steps back to check the freezer, made sure they had sufficient supplies for ice packs. As he was closing the door, he asked “You want help wrapping it?”

It wasn’t often that Adam Dalton looked conflicted. Considering, when their options were limited, sure. Occasionally unhappy with their progress, absolutely. This was Adam conflicted and McG hoped for damn sure it wasn’t because he wanted comfort and didn’t think he could ask without McG pressing for more. Fucking fine lines and crossing them…

“Adam. You can tell me what you need, always can. If you don’t want my help with your shoulder, I can go grab Jaz. They’ve been out there over an hour - Amir might thank you at this point.”

That seemed to resolve the conflict written all over Adam’s face into something resembling resolution. Instead of agreeing that they should call in Jaz, though, he walked further into the kitchen, right back into McG’s personal space. “Nah, we don’t - I don’t need her. It’s just, the muscle is really tight. Think you can…?” Adam gestured at his injured shoulder, but he was looking at McG’s mouth. For a moment, McG thought Adam was going to lean forward and kiss him. When he didn’t, he sighed, “yeah,” and used his uninjured arm to turn him around so they were both facing out of the kitchen. 

McG slipped his fingers under the hem of Adam’s shirt on either side, startling Adam just enough to make his abs flutter. “Can I take this off? It’d make things easier. Better.” He rubbed his thumbs on Adam’s skin and reminded himself to wait for an answer. “Yeah.” Voice lower, slipping back into that place where he let McG care for him, set him right. It took a few minutes, since McG was being extra careful not to aggravate his arm, but Adam stood still while the good doc stripped off his shirt. 

Then strong fingers dug into the sore muscle midway between elbow and shoulder and Adam couldn’t help it, he groaned out loud. “That too much?” McG checked. “No - no, it’s good. Was pretty sore.”

“Mmmmm. Let’s see what we can do…”

After an initial warm up, McG eased back to a single hand gently rubbing out the tenderness around Adam’s pulled muscle. Nothing anatomically complex - it was really more about easing the stiffness and getting some good neurochemicals flowing. When Adam reached back with his left hand to grab the hand the doc wasn’t using on him, he let him pull it forward in his. Played a bit with twining fingers. There were so many directions this could have gone if McG were willing to take it there.

Adam leaned back, fully pressed up against McG’s front now. The doc knew he couldn’t make a move like this, not while he was acting somewhat professionally, at least. But he could make sure Adam knew he wasn’t rejecting his sideways attempt at capturing his attention. McG slid his right hand back to Adam’s waist, this time holding him back against his taller frame. “Mmm. Did you know,” he started slowly, speaking almost directly into Adam’s ear. “That baseball games about a hundred years ago, maybe a bit more, used to give special tickets when a game was rained out? To make sure you could come back to the game when it could happen for real.” 

It took Adam a minute to figure out, but then he was chuckling; McG could feel the rumble buzz lightly through his chest. “You look that up for me?” 

Now that Adam was on board, McG let himself press his mouth down onto Adam’s uninjured shoulder. “Mm-hmm. You did ask rather sweetly. You remember that?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I was so wasted.” McG chuckled in agreement. Adam felt that on his neck, right where he wanted more pressure, the doc’s mouth, anything. “Was really turned on, too.”

McG couldn’t help it, he had to reward that confession. He ran his mouth from the ball of Adam’s shoulder up along the side of his neck all the way to his ear. “Well you can get other things when you ask sweetly, too.” A last press of his mouth on skin. “Just not when you’re injured. Remember?”

Adam took in a deep breath and tried not to whine when he felt McG step back. “So. About this baseball game refund policy…”


	3. Maybe they almost get caught cause they keep grabbing each other and kissing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So it was on to Phase II of The Plan (without really accomplishing Phase I): surprising Top out of his deceptively rigid views on authority and ethics and blowing off a little steam on deployment. That couldn’t possibly be any harder than trying to flirt his way into getting Adam to take initiative, right? McG figured he would demonstrate how very much he consented to his CO’s original suggestion of mutual physical enjoyment until Top believed him. Thoroughly.

The good doc was coming to realize that maybe he was being unfair, expecting Top to try to kiss him again without cover of liquid courage, or the need for comfort, or, well, the sort of sex positive, open-minded approach McG had. He knew that Adam struggled with self-care. According to Jaz, he wasn’t just...selective...but a bit judgey about hooking up. Waiting for Adam to work this far outside his normal operating procedure would probably lead to a whole lot of nothing.

So it was on to Phase II of The Plan (without really accomplishing Phase I): surprising Top out of his deceptively rigid views on authority and ethics and blowing off a little steam on deployment. That couldn’t possibly be any harder than trying to flirt his way into getting Adam to take initiative, right? McG figured he would demonstrate how very much he consented to his CO’s original suggestion of mutual physical enjoyment until Top believed him. Thoroughly. 

He figured he’d cash in that raincheck, just to get them started. With Adam’s admission in the kitchen the other night, no way he wouldn’t be responsive as hell. Then all that praise and positive reinforcement that worked so well on him could begin.

======> <======

He started on base. Partly because it was easier to find moments when surprising Top wouldn’t endanger anyone, but mostly because he couldn’t stop thinking about his mouth whenever they had downtime. This part of the plan drew on impulsivity and McG didn’t mind that one bit. 

The first time he grabs Adam, they’re working the free weights while Preach spots Amir on the bench press. Jaz had gone for a run, he thinks. Once McG finishes his set, he waits for Top to do the same, then catches his eye. “Top, you got a min? I could use your advice on something…” He nods back towards the dorms. McG opens the door to his own room and when Adam walks in, he closes the door with one hand and puts the other on Adam’s stomach. Moves into his space, but doesn’t push. Just brings his mouth in close and looks for any sign that Adam doesn’t want this. Says, “It’s sunny out.” 

If McG weren’t so close range, he might have seen Adam’s eyebrows come together in confusion. As it is, he just pressed a soft kiss to his lips, barely dipping into him. Presses another. And when he hears Adam’s sound of revelation, he steps in between Adam’s feet and deepens the kiss, swallowing the sound. Immediately, Adam’s mouth opens under his and he can’t help it, McG runs his tongue inside his lower lip.

“Is this what you needed?” Adam breathed out between the two of them. God, he was so good like this. McG leaned back, just enough to take a peek. The look on his face, surprised yet forthcoming with his own pleasure. “You? A bit of kissing? Definitely.” McG replied, taking in the sight of a rumpled Adam Dalton.

The response sends movement down Adam’s limbs. He leans in to take McG’s lower lip in between his own while his legs start moving him backwards. As if they trained to move together, McG follows until Adam is being pressed against the wall. Feeling its weight behind him, holding him, with McG barely pressing into him. Adam lets out a gasp at how good that feels. McG’s not even copping a feel, just holding his face between those large hands of his and kissing into his open mouth like he has all the time in the world for this. For him. 

But they don’t have all the time and this was only supposed to be a bit of fun, testing the water a bit. “Raincheck again?” Adam bobs his head before resting his forehead on McG’s shoulder to catch his breath.

The next time it happens, McG grabs Adam’s hand as he’s passing by the area staged for the medic’s use. Pulls him back into a nook between a supplies cabinet and his counter. It had been raining the past few days and everyone was outside throwing off the weight of being cooped up. McG had other plans for celebrating the sun’s return. 

Surely Adam knew what was coming with the way the doc had wrapped his fingers in between his, held his palm against his own? With the way he let McG move him into a half-hidden spot, move him right where he wanted him, he had to want this, too, right? Adam didn’t take his eyes off the doc as he leaned his forehead down on his. “Seems the rain finally stopped, hunh?” Oh, Adam was get cheeky, hunh? And then their mouths were on each other, kissing and kissing until they either had to stop or press on. 

It just...keeps happening, just like that. A clear Quonset, a stolen moment. A whole series of sunny, rainy games.

======> <======

The next part, possibly McG’s favorite part of the plan, was to normalize the surprise kissing. Get Adam to begin to accept that he could - and would! - get the pleasure of McG’s amorous attention on a regular basis. This was inevitable. He would have to learn to love it or speak up against it. And with the way he fell so sweetly into McG’s attention each time? He wasn’t exactly protesting.

Really, the plan here was just - keep kissing Adam. In between missions, during celebrations when things went well. Very complicated, deeply psychological work, this part of the plan.

Of course, McG did have his own set of rules around when he could and could not lay hands on his friend and CO. Some of them had already been established: No drunken half-consent, not even now they they had firmly established that this pull, this _want_ went both ways. No fooling around while McG was doctoring and Adam was in a vulnerable state. Without ever sharing out loud, they both knew the reverse was true, too - no fooling around when Top was in command, not to mention never, ever while on mission. This was about remembering they were people, not challenging authority or risking lives. Things would sour quickly if they didn’t respect that.

McG realized they had probably moved on to this third phase the last time they were making out. Adam hadn’t been at all surprised when they returned from an overnight training exercise and McG had pulled him aside. It had been a grueling, if rewarding, few days and everyone was in the sort of quiet, satisfied, slow mood that meant an early night was ahead. Amir had started up a load of laundry and Preach had won first shower. Who knew where Jaz had squirreled off to; she had disappeared on their way back to camp. Probably to take her own rewards. Once the living quarters had cleared, McG had taken Adam’s arm and led him down the hall. Adam went easily enough. In fact, once they were close enough to his bunk, he tugged McG through the door. 

This time it was McG who was pressed up against the wall, pulling Adam in while his mouth pressed up, hot and open. “Mmmm.” That didn’t taste like surprise. Anticipation, maybe. And Adam was giving as good as he got. McG’s grip on Adam’s side wasn’t to hold him in place; Adam didn’t need that kind of encouragement to stay close anymore. In fact, McG could let his hands rub up along his sides, curve back around his shoulder blades. If one traveled down his spine to cup his ass, Adam only made a sound of encouraging pleasure. Nothing shocked about it.

Adam’s hand came up to hold his jaw while he deepened the kiss. “God, you taste good.” McG wondered vaguely if Adam knew he got a bit of an accent when he was really turned on? “I was thinking about this, earlier. When we were setting the terms for our friendly competition.” The slide of Adam’s lips over his mouth and over to his neck while he confessed almost kept the meaning from McG. When he caught up, he laughed a bit under his breath. “Oh yeah? You thinking about my mouth as a reward for doing good? That what got you winning against all of us?” Cocky son of a bitch.

Adam bit down, tweaking McG’s tongue between his teeth. He wouldn’t want to let him get away with this kind of impudence. When the taller man pulled back a bit, he responded in full. “I always win. I was winning well before the promise of your ass was even here.” 

Inside, it felt like McG had caught the attention of his crush across the gym at a high school dance. He wanted to show off, earn his right to be called a prize. But he wanted to talk this through with Adam sometime, before they were all caught up in each other and just grabbing and rubbing and kissing wherever felt good. They deserved to have everything out in the open, before anyone enjoyed the promise of anyone’s ass, so to speak. 

So. He tucked that feeling he got, making Adam want him, away for now. “Yeah, I’m sure you were. Captain Topshotter himself. First commanding officer to go down before the best sniper in the business…”

Bringing Jaz into it was a risk. In all honesty, she was the only one of them who posed any actual threat to Adam’s chances of coming out on top. To go from making out to teasing him about her, though? McG saw the moment her presence here with the two of them started to weigh on the captain. As if to soothe him, McG rubbed his hand a few times over his lower back and dipped in for one last, quick kiss. Sensing an end to their fun, Adam stepped back. McG watched carefully to make sure no shame or regret passed over his face. When it didn’t, he checked off the final item to an internal list. Yep. They were definitely in Phase III now.

======> <======

If anyone were to ask how long Phase III was supposed to last, McG probably would have done that thing where he improvised on the spot and only his closest friends and teammates could tell the answer was entirely fabricated. In fact, McG would have counted all this kissing as a success and moved on to more _involved_ activities if he hadn’t been having so much damn fun. 

Like when _Adam_ started being the one to pull _him_ off for a few hot minutes of wet mouths and groping. 

He was getting more bold with it, too. McG had all but decided to let him take control over how fast they went. Where they ended up together. 

======> <======

Like when Adam came out of his bunk mid-morning, still wearing his sweats and running his hand through his hair. “Everyone else went to the beach. I heard something about running Amir through that set we did last March.” McG looked up from where he was sitting on the couch, a stack of medical articles loaded onto his tablet. “We hadn’t seen you yet, though, so I stayed here.”

Adam shuffled over and laid down on the couch. Either McG had fallen asleep and was having one really cheesy dream or his CO had just laid his head in his lap. “Top? You feeling okay, man?” Adam reached for McG’s hand and brought it to his chest. “I’m good. Just a headache. I popped some meds, went back to sleep for a bit.” He pressed the doc’s hand into his sternum.

McG put down the tablet and used both hands to rub hard circles into his temples. “You do like some cuddling when you’re laid up.” He moved his hands down to press his thumbs behind his jaw while continuing the soothing motion against the pressure points above. “Mmmmm.” Adam’s closed without him telling them they could. He let himself melt into the relief of those hands. He was glad the team was out; he wanted this comfort. Was pretty sure he could believe McG when he said he deserved it. 

The doc shifted a bit, took his hands off of Adam. Their absence prompted him to open his eyes. “Here, if you let me, I can grab -” A pillow from the other end of the couch was pushed under his head. “You can lay here while I do a bit of reading.” But when McG reached over to pick up his tablet again, Adam took it from him and put it aside. His hand traveled up to grip his arm and tug him down. Still laying in his lap, Adam met his mouth halfway and stole a kiss. 

It was difficult to pull away. There was a reason they had the few rules they followed, though, and this one needed to be non-negotiable. “Not a good idea.” The doc rubbed his hand over Adam’s right temple again. Adam rolled his eyes and sat up. “It’s just a headache. If you hadn’t stayed here, you would never have even known about it.”

“If I hadn’t been here…” Adam leaned in and took the rest of that sentence out of the doc’s mouth. He sat back to assess whether his friend was persuaded. He couldn’t decide, so he brought his hand to McG’s shoulder, slowly. Wrapped it around his neck and moved in for another kiss. This one was deeper. Longer. When they broke, Adam took another look at McG’s face and knew he hadn't been won over. Not yet. “Thought this was supposed to be good for headaches?” He rubbed his open mouth across McG’s, back and forth across the scruff surrounding his lips until McG surged forward enough to steady the connection. “That’s orgasms.”

Apparently that was permission enough for Adam. A few minutes of kissing later, he was straddling McG, bringing their bodies closer together. McG had a lapful of very willing Adam who was making these noises as he rocked them together. “Mmm, you’re doing that on purpose…” McG had to remind himself to keep his voice down, muffle it in Adam’s shoulder. “Well, now, I _may_ have noticed that you like a bit of a slow burn.” How Adam Dalton knew the phrase “slow burn” was beyond the good doc’s comprehension. But could you blame him when Adam took the opportunity to emphasize his point by rubbing just the tiniest bit against McG’s growing hardness? “I dooo, man. I really do. With you? Fuck.” 

The doc didn’t know what to do with his hands. He wanted to grab Adam’s meaty ass, push them closer together. Get more friction. But he was worried if he was too eager, he might spook the man. He was really starting to like these times when Adam went after exactly what he wanted, showed McG that he wanted him enough to ask for it. Showed him how to make him feel good. So he kept moving his hands from the back of the couch, to Adam’s back, his shoulders. The couch on either side of them. Just letting Adam drive this time.

Which just meant Adam took his hands and brought them to his hips before tugging on McG’s shirt. He sat forward enough for Adam to pull it over his head. God he was so fucking turned on. These weeks of mouths and tongues and hands had him jerking off in the shower, in his bed alone at night. One not-quite-unfortunate side effect of Phase III was that it was working on both of them: McG was walking around perpetually open to a bit of loving. 

Maybe that was why he had trouble keeping quiet with Adam grinding on his lap. Adam lifted his lips from his neck to shush him, but then he nipped at that spot below his ear that he knew got to him. When McG barely kept in his moan, the bastard sniggered into his neck. All he could feel was his beard scratching his sensitive skin, teeth biting down on his muscle, and the pressing heat of a hard cock against his own. Adam’s hard cock. “Fuuuck. Fuck, Adam.” 

That was enough to propel Adam up off of him a bit, while staying close. He wanted to see McG’s face, know what he looked like when he made those sounds. Adam’s was sure he looked just as wrecked, his own face wide open and wanting. It must have, because McG was pushing and moving forward and Adam found himself lying back on the couch underneath him.

“Mmmm, yeah, that’s -” McG finished his satisfied murmuring with his mouth on Adam’s upper arm, just below where bicep met shoulder. With McG’s heavy heat on top of him, stretched out as much as they could against the cushions, Adam could feel that part of himself that felt open, and safe, and inviting starting to bleed through his desire. He arched his back a bit just to feel the solid weight above him. McG had shoved the short sleeve of his shirt up to mouth at his arm and now switched to pulling at his collar to better reach his shoulder from another angle. Adam felt fingers sneak under his hem and heard “Let’s just get this off you, too, hunh?” 

But then he also heard footsteps and some scratching on the picnic table and the blood pounding in his own ears. He shot up, hand out to push at McG’s stomach even as the man moved up and out of the way. Both of them were panting, but Adam felt the extra edge of panic creep into his labored breath. They each pushed into a separate corner, no time to figure out a better cover as someone approached the common room. Over the back of the couch, McG locked eyes with Amir; clearly the ex-spy knew and did not care what had been happening. A pleading look, a slight head tilt towards their CO, and Amir’s brief nod. They were safe. 

Amir walked over to the fridge, grabbed a bottle of water filled with electrolytes. “Preach and Jaz are doing one more lap. I think Jaz thought she’d kill me if I had to finish with them. I’m calling it quits and heading to sleep.” Intel exchanged, he headed down the hall.

“We can’t - that was close…” Adam stood. “It’s okay, Top. We just should have moved to one of the bedrooms.” The worst was that Adam wouldn’t meet his eyes. McG stayed sat on the couch and looked up at him. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let things get that far without suggesting we move.”

The apology was what made him look directly at McG. He didn’t want him to be sorry. Not for kissing him. Maybe for almost getting caught; definitely not for having to keep this so secret, not telling their team. That was his job to figure out as captain. Adam was trying to find some of the words he needed to put any of that between them when they heard laughter from outside. Like he wasn’t even aware he was doing it, Top’s head turned towards the door. Preach was back - with Jaz. 

With a barely expressed sigh, McG stood up and leaned into Adam’s side. He pressed a quick kiss on his temple and moved back. “Hope that headache goes away. Talk to Jazzy. She did good with Amir.”

======> <======

Phase III was killing him. Maybe McG could admit that he stretched it out just a bit too long. Not just this particular makeout session in the living room, but Phase III in general. Just as Adam was starting to expect McG to haul him to the nearest vertical surface and press him back while locking lips, he started getting paranoid. After almost getting caught on the couch like a couple of horny teenagers, McG was surprised their CO was willing to kiss him at all. Hell, Adam would initiate the kissing only to back away, asking if the doc knew where Jaz had gotten off to while they were distracted. He knew Top had been fighting his attraction (and, dare he say, schoolboy crush) while Jaz increasingly pushed and pulled with flirting and avoidance. 

What he didn’t know is what he was going to do about it. It would be a shame to let this be the thing that brought about the end of the Great Kissing of Deployment Five. At the same time, he was rooting for them in the end, he really was. McG didn’t think anyone could ever really handle, just fully love on their captain the way Jaz obviously did.

He needed to figure out a new phase, is what he needed. One that resolved the question of whether or not Jaz was going to kill them both when she found out Top wasn’t nearly as prudish as she’d thought.


	4. Maybe McG Really Did Ask for Jaz’s Explicit Approval...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The guy was never at a loss for words. Well, this couldn’t be good, thought Jaz. She made round, continuing motions with her hands, willing him to speed up. “I’m kissing Adam, like, all over the place. Just sorta - sneak attack makeout sessions, right? And -”
> 
> “You’re kissing Adam!?” Disbelief wore off into deep consideration on Jaz’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tiny bridge in the plot here before some confrontation, some sexytimes, and then maybe random interludes...

McG hadn’t been this afraid of getting decked by Jaz since the time he wouldn’t let her out of his sight after her first doozy of a concussion with the team. After 24 hours, she’d locked him in their bathroom and gone for a run. He’d pulled rank and made her go to medical. On top of stressing about her lack of self-care, lack of trust in him, McG knew she would spend her time on medical watch plotting her revenge. He already felt awful about the whole thing.

As he waited for her to head back inside, McG thought about how she had eventually forgiven him. For that and lots of other various incidents. 

“Hey, Jaz! Can I talk with you a minute?” McG nodded toward the area of the Quonset where he kept his medical supplies. She followed him past the dorms until he deemed them sufficiently far away from the rest of their living quarters. “What’s up?” Jaz could feel her body slipping into that strange combination of defensive, yet ready for McG’s attention. She couldn’t help it; she was standing where she usually was when he examined her. And she didn’t even need his help right now! She was fine.

McG, on the other hand, was decidedly not. Dude looked seriously worried. Like, broke her shit kind of worried.

“I need your help with something, and there’s really no easy way to -” McG floundered. The guy was never at a loss for words. Well, this couldn’t be good, thought Jaz. She made round, continuing motions with her hands, willing him to speed up. “I’m kissing Adam, like, all over the place. Just sorta - sneak attack makeout sessions, right? And -”

“You’re kissing Adam!?” Disbelief wore off into deep consideration on Jaz’s face. “...Top? And you?” Without looking at McG, still wearing a look that suggested she was analyzing the multiple angles of this intel, Jaz asked, “Is it weird that I find the idea of the two of you hot even if I’m a bit…myself?” She trailed off before saying “envious” or “interested” or anything else to betray the extent of the crush everyone knew about, but didn’t acknowledge. 

McG was shaking his head in the negative before she was halfway done with her question. “Nope. Not at all.” He thought back to the times he’d been unable to stop himself from imagining what would happen if she ever pushed the looks she and Adam exchanged into action. Saw how they responded to each other while offering comfort and how easily that could slip into something more. “I know exactly how you feel, actually.”

She did look up at him at that. Eyes wide, caught out. McG watched her slide into the stillness he knew signaled he had found a sore spot. “No, it’s not - I’m not trying to make a move on your guy. Not like that, Jaz. We’re just - kissing. Having some fun.” She was still watchful, but listening. “Jazzy,” he took her hand and slid his first two fingers over her pulse point. Oddly enough, she felt like she should be the one monitoring how well his heart was working, not the other way around.

“I would never do that - to either of you. He’s worried you’re going to find us out and be pissed. I need you to, I don’t know.” Jaz removed her hand from his grasp and, before the sadness settled into his face, placed it over his heart. She really had been listening sometimes when he talked to her about showing them what she wanted. His heart was pounding. “I needed you to know. And not be pissed.”

Jaz laughed. “I’m not pissed.”

McG let out a breath he hadn’t realized had been lodged under his ribs. “Good. That’s good. Can you tell Adam that?”

Another outburst of shock and laughter. “What, like, sneak attack tell him I know you’re sneak attack kissing him?”

McG mulled that over. What were the chances that if someone jumped out at Adam in the bunker these days that he would just automatically slide into Makeout Mode? Even if that someone was Jaz, not him?

Fuck that was hot, even if it was barely a real possibility.

Jaz took a step back from McG and he reminded himself it wasn’t personal. Cuddling - even just the slight snuggle of her hand on him - made Jaz lose some of the situational awareness she was used to having at all times. She still liked the clarity of physical solitude when she was analyzing a problem, figuring out her next moves. The fact that Jaz moved over to the counter and started tracing shapes on the surface meant she was helping him figure out how to do this. 

“So - what? I should just, tell Top it’s okay? That I give the two of you my blessing?”

Both of them startled with the squeak of a sole turning too tightly on the floor. And Adam’s back was headed straight out the door.


	5. teaser: Maybe Top and Jaz Should Have Had This Conversation Ages Ago...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There would always be this tangle of command and power and feelings where they were concerned. Neither one of them was ready to wade through what they were and were not willing to give up.
> 
> That didn't mean Jaz expected him to live like a monk in the meantime. Convincing Adam of that might just be more...delicate...than she knew how to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so fair warning: yet again, I am releasing a teaser - two, actually. Because maybe this will whet your appetites enough to motivate me to get the rest of the words in order for these two chapters. They're fully planned out and there's really no good reason not to release them into the wildy wilds of the fandom verse.

Jaz knew, she _knew_ this was not something McG could fix. And the guilt of hurting Adam, even inadvertently, was not something that would be proportionate to the incident unfolding before them. McG took his role as Team Caretaker seriously. She paused on her way to follow Top long enough to squeeze some comfort into Joe’s arm. 

Then Jaz took a deep breath and tried to organize her scattered thoughts into some semblance of a plan.

Emerging into the shared living area, Jaz saw no trace of her captain. Amir was working at something in the kitchen, though, and he seemed unsurprised when Jaz asked if he’d seen Top. “He headed to the beach; said you might be looking for him at some point.” If there was a bit extra weight behind the look he leveled at her, there was nothing she could do about it now. Besides: maybe McG already knew that Amir was onto them.

The beach. That was good, she figured. He wasn’t trying to hide or avoid her. There was an inevitable conversation the two of them needed to have, the sooner, the better. Because there was no way she could pretend she didn’t know about all this hotness that had apparently been happening. And she had some declarations of her own she might need to make. Top deserved that - and he was letting her come to him, so maybe he thought she did, too.


	6. teaser: Maybe it was Top who had to convince McG...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Jaz says I can have you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> teaser the second. keep me accountable! comments aren't just love on this one - they might just be the motivation I need to get these two down and out.

The shower was running in the hotel room when Adam broke in with the card Jaz had charmed out of the hostess. He had rolled his eyes when she reverse palmed it, slipping it into his pocket when he wouldn’t take it from her. Nothing about this was casual anymore - not with Jaz knowing, encouraging things, saying she didn’t mind if he...fooled around...with their friend. Adam was having a difficult time making heads or tails of that.

He had also been having a difficult time not imagining slipping into McG’s hotel room, thanks to Jaz and her suggestive resources. How often did they get an overnight in an actual, decent hotel? Sure, he suspected Jaz might have rigged the drawing for the single room, but that didn’t stop Adam from picturing McG all alone in a giant bed with fresh sheets against bare skin. Thought about it as he felt the crisp sheets against his own back in bed. Remembered the last time he’d witnessed McG horizontal, pressing into him, licking and biting at his arms like he was edible.

Fuck. Maybe he didn’t care that much if Jaz heard him slip out of their room.

And now here he was, McG in the shower, with a ridiculous amount of privacy, working himself up with just the thought of what they could do. _With permission,_ fluttered in the back of his head.

=====><=====

McG heard the door to the bathroom open and was faintly surprised that he wasn't more worried by it. In fact, he finished rinsing his hair and ran hands still laced with leftover mission energy over his face before turning off the tap and reaching for his towel. He was still tucking the soft, plush terried corner around his waist while walking towards Adam. 

Naked. Perched on the marble counter top. Eyes bright and clear and focused entirely on him. McG made it most of the way to him before he said a word. "Jaz says I can have you."

_Oh is that right?_ McG shifted trajectory and landed left of Adam's thigh and hip. Ignoring all the skin right there for him, McG figured he could play off that a bit first. They had all night, didn't they?


	7. Maybe Top and Jaz should have had this conversation ages ago...(full update)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full update this time! Thank you to everyone who pressed for this to continue!!

Jaz knew, she _knew_ this was not something McG could fix. And the guilt of hurting Adam, even inadvertently, was not something that would be proportionate to the incident unfolding before them. McG took his role as Team Caretaker seriously. They were damn lucky he did, taking care of the two of them - all of them, really - was no easy task. She paused on her way to follow Top long enough to squeeze some comfort into Joe’s arm. 

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” she added. Then Jaz took a deep breath and tried to organize her scattered thoughts into some semblance of a plan. Find Top. Get Top talking. Navigate whatever sort of crazy he sent her way. After these past few years, she certainly owed Top that much. He’d done the same for her over and over and over until she felt she deserved to be on this team.

Emerging into the shared living area, Jaz saw no trace of Top. Not that she had really expected to find him so close by. Amir was there and he seemed unsurprised when Jaz asked if he’d seen Top. “He headed to the beach; said you might be looking for him at some point.”

That was good, she figured. He wasn’t trying to hide or avoid her. There was an inevitable conversation the two of them needed to have, and now, it seemed, the sooner, the better. Because there was no way she could pretend she didn’t know about all this hotness that had apparently been happening. She also had some declarations of her own she might need to make. Top deserved that - and he was letting her come to him, so maybe he thought she did, too.

oOo oOo oOo

When she got to the beach, it was nearly deserted. Good. They’d have at least some modicum of privacy. Faintly, Jaz wondered whether Top even cared about the few random locals scattered closer to the water. Perhaps the distance from base was all that mattered now.

Top was easy to spot; usually was, with his shock of blonde hair. This time he was sitting in a patch of scrubby seagrass where the beach tried to claim more territory. Jaz knew he had seen her approach, despite hanging his gaze on the ground in front of them. She plopped down next to him with far less grace than she could manage, if she’d wanted. This just wasn’t about sneakery or trained endurance or even natural talent.

A few heartbeats of shared silence and Top spat out between them, “You have something you wanna say?”

Jaz shook her head, less in the negative and more in a shrug. “I’m mostly here to listen, actually.”  
Top went from looking down at grains of sand between blades of grass to staring off into the water. If eye contact seemed oppressive right now, during this conversational moment, then Jaz could follow his lead. Besides, wasn’t staring off in the same direction some wise dude’s definition of love?

She waited him out until Top clarified, “I don’t know what to say to you.”

“Okay. If I said you don’t owe me anything, would that make it easier or harder?”

“Jaz…” The pleading tone suggested the latter. Whether it was because he didn’t think he could handle that kind of ambiguity or because he was torn between needing to clarify what Jaz had apparently learned and maintaining his distance as CO was beyond her.

“What about if I said you could have both.”

Adam shook his head, like his brain had tried to compute what that might mean and couldn’t quite imagine it. “What ‘both?’”

“You can owe me some sort of...explanation or acknowledgement or - whatever. Or, at least, you can feel like you do; I don’t really think we have those kinds of claims.” _Not yet,_ was on the tip of her tongue. Wouldn’t be fair to put that on him, though. Not like this. “And you can have a basic right to whatever makes you happy.” She nodded back in the direction they had come from base, back towards their medic and Adam’s current makeout partner. Clearly she meant McG, making out, something _more._ All of it. “Regardless of what I think.”

“No, I really can’t.”

“Do you want to help me understand why not?”

“Yeah.” Except he was shaking his head in the negative. Top swallowed. He didn’t rub his hand across his beard, though, and he didn’t rub the back of his neck. The lack of those self-soothing gestures worried her. 

“Is it because you’re my CO? We shouldn’t be talking about you like you’re, I don’t know, human? Or because you’re McG’s CO?”

“Nah, it isn’t like that. He’s pulled rank on me - during medical issues. He can do that.”

Okay, good. Not a suffer-for-the-rank thing.

He wasn’t in tears, but there was this overwhelming sadness about him. Jaz hoped this wasn’t further complicated by the kind of internalized homophobia she knew could fester in their ranks. Top would never allow it around Omega Team 7, had made sure Elijah was as out and accepted as he wanted to be. Still. Who knew what particular brands of darkness muddied Top inside?

“This isn’t because it’s McG, though, right? I mean, because it’s any...him…?” Not the most eloquent of prompts, Jaz thought. Serviceable, though, because it had Top immediately denying it.

“Oh, no. No, God no. My first kiss was with a girl, second was with a boy. That’s never been a...question or a problem.”

“Good. Cause it’s not.”

He chucked kinda wryly at that - the first real sign that he was starting to see that Jaz was here for him, fierce for his defense. Even if she had to be fierce against him to ensure he got his own damn happiness. 

Good. Jaz was getting somewhere, at least.

She nudged his foot with hers. He nudged hers back. 

“So - it’s not the rank, it’s not the guy thing.” Jaz let that hang there in the salty air between them. 

What did she have to lose, other than her pride? Top wouldn’t do anything that might damage her career over something like this; he certainly wouldn’t think any less of her. She was doing her best to try to set him at ease and manage this awful, ill-defined mess of a personal issue.

“I have one other hypothesis…” She was careful to frame it as anything other than fact. “Really, it’s McG’s. It’s why he was talking to me in the first place when - earlier.”

Jaz really wanted some sort of physical reassurance for this next part. Not just to comfort Top, either. For her own selfish desire for the promise of continued connection. “Can we, I don’t know. Hug or something? First? You’re all the way over there.” Jaz hoped exaggerating would take the edge off the intimacy because that request had nothing on what she was about to say.

Top lifted his arm to make way and Jaz burrowed right up to him, tucking her legs off to the side. “McG thinks you’re holding back because of me.”

The evenness of Top’s breathing in the chest next to her sidelong embrace revealed nothing. Jaz was glad she could press into him in emphasis.

“And - I’m not sure it even matters why. Just, for what it’s worth: I don’t mind if you want to claim McG for blowing off some steam,” Jaz started with a casual arrangement, knew it was something he usually chose not to pursue. “Or, you know, deeper claims on him. If that’s in the cards.”

“Claims,” Adam barked out. “I don’t think I get claims.”

Aw fuck. Things might be worse than McG had intimated.

“Well, you get claims on me. I am here for you, for this. ‘For whatever conversations we need to have,’ right?” He had made that part of his job as her CO, but also her teammate. Had drilled it into her, relentlessly. There was something incredibly satisfying about directing it back at Top for once. “And maybe…” She needed to choose her words carefully, she knew. “Other claims, too.”

Jaz snuck a look sideways. Either he was holding his breath or avoiding sudden movements or just really, really didn’t want her to have put _that_ out there.

Too late.

“If we, you know, decide to have...them. Other claims, I mean.” Because that was a mutual fucking decision. And one Jaz wasn’t ready to talk about yet, either - even if she thought it was exactly where they were eventually headed. Especially given McG’s latest revelation. _He thought she and Top were hot together, he said so. Or - implied it._

“So.” Jaz cleared her throat. “There’s that. In case you needed to know or whatever. And none of that changes anything else I’ve said - you want McG, you should have him.”

“He really likes you, you know.” She felt his agreement vibrating against her chest as he hummed, low and perhaps uncommitted. “He told me so. And he wouldn’t have asked for my help if he didn’t. We don’t -” Jaz stopped, started again. “Sometimes it’s about just feeling good, you know? And sometimes it’s about loving on someone, even if there aren’t big plans for a white picket fence. Doesn’t have to be just all or nothing.”

The arm around her shoulders squeezed and Top asked, “Jaz, are you trying to explain friends with benefits to me?”

His voice was deadpan, but Jaz knew exactly what Top sounded like when he used humor to defuse a difficult situation. She’d take it, too. 

“Ehhhh, ‘explain’s’ a bit strong. That would involve far, far more explicit detail than I think either one of us wants to discuss.”

The dry chuckle-infused confirmation that induced was evidence of far more progress than Jaz thought they might be making. She wormed through his arm a bit and reached up to kiss his cheek, slow and simple. 

The way Top accepted it like a gentleman, like it was normal and deserved and full of rightful love was confirmation that her message had been heard. Top would at least be considering what she said and, if all held up to the sort of intense tactical review she imagined as a constant in his inner workings, they would be alright. Top and McG - and Top and Jaz. 

_And maybe, one day, Top and McG and Jaz,_ she couldn't help wondering, somewhere buried deep in her limbic system.


	8. Maybe It Was Top Who Had to Convince McG…(full update, part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This update will be a two-parter. Both are rather smutty, but Part 2. Well, Part 2 will be more explicit. 
> 
> [You know. More explicit than Adam naked and waiting for McG to fuck him.]
> 
> Everyone should thank Logictron for this one. She asks the nicest.

The shower was running in the hotel room when Adam broke in with the card Jaz had charmed out of the hostess. He had rolled his eyes when she reverse palmed it, slipping it into his pocket when he wouldn’t take it from her. Nothing about this was casual anymore - not with Jaz knowing. She kept encouraging things, said she didn’t mind if he...fooled around...with their friend. Adam was having a difficult time making heads or tails of that.

He had also been having a difficult time not imagining slipping into McG’s hotel room post-mission, thanks to Jaz and her suggestive resources. How often did they get an overnight in an actual, decent hotel? Sure, he suspected Jaz might have rigged the drawing for the single room in McG’s favor, but that didn’t stop Adam from picturing the doc all alone in a giant bed with fresh sheets against bare skin. Thought about it as he felt the crisp sheets against his own back in bed. Remembered the last time he’d witnessed McG horizontal, pressing into him on their couch, licking and biting at his arms like he was edible.

Fuck. Maybe he didn’t care that much if Jaz heard him slip out of their room.

And now here he was, McG in the shower, with a ridiculous amount of privacy, working himself up with just the thought of what they could do. _With permission,_ fluttered in the back of his head. Christ.

=====><=====

McG heard the door to the bathroom open and didn’t even pause to wonder who it was. If anything, he was faintly surprised that he wasn't more worried by it. What kind of operative was unconcerned about someone entering his hotel room unannounced?

_The kind half-expecting to get laid by someone with the skills to surprise him._

McG finished rinsing his hair and ran hands still laced with leftover mission energy over his face. He allowed himself to stand under the water a few beats more before turning off the tap and reaching for his towel. Knowing Adam was out there made him want to rush out to claim some kisses and that just would not do. Letting Jaz in on their little...trysts...had forced both their hands. Hadn’t it? 

The doc was still tucking the plush terried corner around his waist while he crossed the cold tile of the bathroom floor towards Adam. 

Naked. Perched on the marble countertop. Eyes bright and clear and focused entirely on him. McG made it most of the way to him before Adam said a word. Then his rough voice broke the air between them. "Jaz says I can have you."

 _Oh is that right?_ McG shifted trajectory. There may have been a loose rhythm to McG’s hips as he padded over, landing left of Adam's thigh and hip. Ignoring all the skin right there for him. He was glad that Adam had cleared his mind of being caught out, really he was. They deserved a good time together - Adam definitely deserved to worry a little bit less, let loose. The good doc thought he deserved a bit of fun, too.

“Did she now?”

Knowing Jaz knew about them and had convinced Adam that he could take this for himself? McG figured he could play off that announcement a bit. Use it to get Adam to really commit. Not that he would brag about it, but the doc was pretty sure he could have Adam asking for it just like he had in the bar that night near base long weeks ago. 

McG leaned in to his reflection, so close he could feel the heat coming off Adam’s thigh - his very naked muscles, right there on the counter, only a few inches away. McG picked up a small tube from his toiletries kit. Dabbing something cool and shiny on his cheeks kept his hands from reaching for Adam; the smell of ginger and bergamot would never mean anything less than ‘about to get spectacularly laid’ in McG’s nostrils again. “Didn’t know Jaz was booking my hotel guests these days…” 

That earned a bit of a snort. “Yeah, I didn’t think I needed Jaz to send me in your direction, either,” the tone was slightly rueful. Not quite his CO of Unruly Children voice. Still. Was he getting called out on having gone to Jaz in the first place? 

McG was considering his defense when Adam continued. “She’s the one slipped your keycard into my pocket. Got me thinking what a waste it would be to let all this,” Adam looked around the cut stone in the bathroom, the space. The walls. “Pass by without, uh…” He trailed off, eyes getting heavy as they moved across McG’s body.

McG hummed, kept his eyes elsewhere. He wanted to see how far he could push Adam into leading...whatever this was going to be. After all, the man had broken into his room and gotten naked for him. Weeks of making out leading up to naked breaking and entering? Surely Adam wanted this badly enough to keep asking for what he wanted.

“Well I mean, she was there that night you kissed me. The first time.” Sure, she’d missed out on everything, what with her attention on landing her own hook up that night. Her presence had been notable, just the same, spurring Adam on like only she could. “You remember how awful you were to her?” McG still spoke to his own reflection, running a hand over his jaw with unnecessary attention. 

Adam put his hands on the counter behind him and leaned back on them. The new position brought his strong shoulders into prominent view and McG couldn’t quite keep up his game when presented with such a view. It’s not like Adam minded the appreciative glance over his arms. And chest. Then further down…

“I remember kissing up into that mouth of yours.” That brought McG’s eyes back up to his. Those baby blues all sparkle and heat. Still too damn patient for McG’s ego. He ran a large hand up Adam’s right thigh from his knee to a spot just shy of his hip. Finally looking over at him instead of ignoring all that skin on display. “You were wasted.”

Adam wiggled his hips up a bit with the attention as McG’s hand dipped down to trail back out along his inner thigh. And Adam’s mouth just kept on going. “I was trying to get you to do more than run interference for Jaz. Get you to act on all that heat you always, just - manage - in me.”

Was that a remark on how hot he’d been then - or now? McG chuffed out loud in indecision. “God, you offered up your hands for me to hold and then, when I didn’t, tucked them down into my pants. Right there in the bar.”

Adam came forward, sitting straight up and gripping onto the towel around McG’s waist to pull him over between his legs. McG let the motion carry him sideways, then forward up along Adam’s sturdy length.

“Mmmhmm. Like this?” Adam asked, re-situating his hands once McG was settled right up against him. The backs of his fingers reached low along the doc’s belly and groin. 

Teasing and daring and more than ready to follow through. McG was right - Phase Four was going to be glorious. 

=======><=======

Adam tugged and McG smiled as he pressed his mouth to Adam’s in a bid to distract himself from the heat and the pressure of a very hard cock against his own, fingers nudging so close he couldn’t decide which way to grind. 

Sometimes Adam let him lick into his mouth with a sweet, subby sigh and sometimes Adam opened beneath him. And sometimes, sometimes like now, Adam pressed and took and groaned with own insistent want. McG loved those times; he fully understood the sentiment. And now Adam was lightly rubbing his mouth over McG’s and pulling his hips flush and all he could do was mold around him, let him take what he wanted. All that teasing touch coalescing in his rapidly hardening cock.

Figuring out what he wanted was apparently more than Adam could handle, now that he had McG’s full attention. One of Adam’s hands let go of the towel at McG’s waist to wander up his side, then changed direction back down to where they were connected at the center. Fingers scraped above his belly button and then lifted to head north again. The flutter of them on his jaw, never quite taking hold, had the doc opening his eyes. 

What he saw was Adam’s hand in mid-air, seemingly undecided. He could encourage things along, whichever way he saw fit. He knew he could. Hands tugging his hair or latching back on his waist - which did McG want? 

Either. Both. Anything really. Just more of Adam’s hands on him. So McG did what he always did: he ran through a checklist of want and need and plans to have.

“You sure you know what you want?”

“I’m sitting here naked and you’re asking me what I want?”

“Hey,” McG nuzzled his nose in, taking in a deep breath of salty musk and Adam, before pulling back just enough to touch brown eyes to blue before they fluttered shut again. “That’s how we do. Checking in.” 

Adam sighed because he knew it was true. And because he liked how McG said it without breaking the pull between them. “I like what we do,” he confirmed for the doc. “What is it you called it? Sneak Attack Kissing?” If it hadn’t been for Adam’s grip on the small of his back, McG would have taken an automatic step back at being called out. “Always have.”

“Good!” That came out a bit more flustered than McG usually got in these situations. With Adam and otherwise. Because - just - there were calluses rubbing across the skin above his hips and he’d been waiting so long to really ogle Adam and - God, Adam’s voice was already getting low and throaty and all McG had even done was show up in his own hotel room and share a few kisses. 

“Just,” one of those broad hands McG maybe wanted to ogle more often moved down under the towel, loosening it as he slid in to cup McG’s ass. “Wanna do more.”

Adam didn’t wait, he just lined his mouth up to McG’s and started in deep. He wasn’t rushed or methodical, not lazy or particularly demanding. He was, however, thoroughly enjoying things if the little sounds and barely contained moans were any indication. Teeth tugged between lips and tongues rubbing inside and a towel pushed down into gravity. McG lined them up and Adam was there with him, rolling hips and groaning with the new onslaught of raw friction. _We fit so fucking perfect together_ floated through McG’s mind. 

Quickly on its heels (and out McG’s mouth), “I am not fucking you on the vanity in this bathroom.”

“But you are?” McG pulled back enough to check Adam’s face for the meaning behind that question. And then Adam clarified with a follow up, “Fucking me?” The slight hesitancy behind the questions also pulled at the miniscule muscles knitting his eyes together as they went from gazing down at still-connected hips to meeting the doc’s own eyes. He was still so close that McG could barely see anything else. 

“Yeah. I mean, you did sneak into my room - naked.” McG took a moment to appreciate that fact. “We can do what you want, Adam.” He moved his mouth in close, took a nip at the skin under his left ear. “Me fucking you; you fucking me.” McG bent his knees just enough to give a long, slow roll of his hard dick against Adam’s. The groan that dragged out of his CO had McG clutching his ass and pulling him forward, taking careful steps back.


	9. Maybe They Finally Fuck...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second part of that last chapter, in which Jaz has convinced Adam it's okay to have McG, the good doc is surprised by a very naked Adam in his hotel room, and I stopped juuuuust as things were getting good. 
> 
> Please heed the warnings and read only at your pleasure.

McG tried to coordinate his movements to keep them together without losing contact. Would have been easier to maneuver if Adam wasn’t surging forward, all eager mouth and hands, practically tripping over his own feet in a bid to press up against McG again. Desperate Adam Dalton was fucking hot as hell. As long as they stayed upwards long enough to make it to the bed, McG wasn’t willing to reign any of it in. No, sir.

They had barely made it as far as the bedroom when McG pulled Adam with him back against the wall inside the door jamb. He wanted to feel Adam chasing after him without worrying they were going to crash onto the floor for a few minutes. Adam was all for this detour, following McG until he was close enough to grab the doc’s mouth with his, moaning right into it when McG slowed things down with his kiss. The doc brought a hand up to cup his jaw and moved Adam into a different angle. No rush, just like sharing kisses all those times tucked into hidden corners of the hut. Adam groaned and clutched onto McG’s sides, pulling himself in while McG, he just wrapped his hands right around those tight shoulders he had been eyeing during Adam’s little tease. 

Christ, he couldn’t wait to get his mouth on those shoulders, the muscles in his back. Catch the back of his neck between his teeth while…

That thought wasn’t going to help McG keep his cool until they were really ready to let go. 

Adam’s body brushing up against McG’s further loosened the already tenuous hold the towel had on his hips. McG nudged it along with a hand and let it fall. The sound it made hitting the floor was followed quickly by the sound of Adam realizing they could be entirely skin to skin now. He closed what distance remained between his hard cock and the doc’s and gave a bit of a thrust once they were lined up. 

“Yeah,” McG groaned out. “You taking what you need, baby?” 

“Fuck!” Maybe it was the endearment, which was a new one for them. Or maybe it was being given permission. Lord knew that was a turn on for Adam. He had stilled against McG, pressed together from his forehead tucked against McG’s shoulder to their bellies. One of Adam’s legs had snaked between McG’s to get a better angle for his dick; McG could feel just how hard he was trying not to grind against him. Fuck, he was practically thrumming against the doc.

“Mmm. You’re incredible like this, Adam. Do you remember what you wanted? That night in the bar?”

“God, I just wanted your mouth on me.”

“Mmmm.” McG let his tongue drag over Adam’s neck. “Bet the rest of you tastes good, too.” 

McG swiveled Adam where they stood, propping him back against the wall. Adam leaned his head back and looked up at McG. Heat through hooded eyes. Lips parted and panting. McG leaned in and started back at his neck before moving down to his right nipple. 

“Ughhhhmmm…” The needy sound that came out of Adam made McG want to devote himself to making it happen again.

“You sensitive here?” McG’s voice had slipped into that tone he used when he was assessing Adam’s body. He laved his tongue over the same nipple again. 

“Sensitive everywhere with you, man.”

The doc smirked against Adam’s skin at that qualification. He moved his left hand above Adam’s other nipple and swiped over it with his thumb at the same time his teeth scraped over its twin. 

“Oh!”

“Yeah, you are.”

McG wanted to take his time, go slowly over all the fun bits between where they were and where they were going. From the sounds Adam was already making, though, he might need to wait for another time to drag things out. Anything else would either be mean or end too quickly. Still. Maybe he could push Adam just a bit further.

Adam saw McG settle onto both knees and sit back onto his heels. The buzz along his nerves zeroed in to the region under the doc’s hands as he traced down from his nipples over his abs, then back up and down his left flank. 

“Have you gotten off yet today?”

What? The chronology on that made the logic skip in Adam’s brain. “Uh, nah, I’m -” Adam nodded down at his hard cock, standing straight up against his belly.

McG chuckled. “If I make you come, standing here, you gonna be able to go again?”

It took him a minute to figure it out. McG sat there watching him as Adam battled between really wanting McG to take his dick into his mouth and knowing how close he was to losing control. The decision was taken away from him by a steady hand that wrapped around Adam’s balls. The doc nipped at Adam’s groin before explaining, “Just a taste, then. That’s it.” And then his goddamn tongue licked a line right from root to the tip of him. 

Adam’s hand came up off the wall. Unsure whether he could put it on McG’s head - just to hold him, not to grab or grip or holy motherfucker move his mouth onto him again - it floated a bit before McG found it. Circled his finger and thumb around his wrist the way he had back in the bar, all those weeks ago. Adam was anchored in place, which was lovely, which was good, which kept him from thrusting. Because the doc’s warm, wet mouth sank down the full length of his dick and it had been too long since Adam had this. McG did it again while reaching for Adam’s other wrist. That almost pushed Adam into giving over entirely to McG, who heard the thin edge in Adam’s moans. With one last lap at Adam’s head, he rocked back onto his heels and stood. 

Still holding Adam’s wrists, he asked, “You ready to move this along?” Not trusting himself with words, Adam nodded.

Somehow, McG was still with it enough to climb backwards up onto the bed without taking his eyes off his captain’s. “How ‘bout this time, you fuck me? Keep taking what you want?” Adam ran greedy eyes over McG’s long, lean body, all laid out on display for him. McG let him, taking just the right pause before adding, “You know, since Jaz says you can ‘have me.’”

That had Adam running a hand through his hair and moving forward up onto the bed after him. He climbed over McG and leaned down into a kiss. A firm hand gripped McG’s aching dick and this time, it was his turn to grunt. 

“Hang on, just -” A steady hand on Adam’s chest pushing him back to a corner of the bed. How could he resist? Then McG was rising up and grabbing a bottle from the nightstand. “I’m gonna open myself up this time.” He clicked open the bottle and squirted lube onto two fingers. “It’ll go faster if I -” And then his hand was disappearing and his face melted as he slid his fingers inside himself. 

“Jesus Christ you are something else, doc.”

Around the pleasure of something finally in his ass, McG pushed out, “I am impatient is what I am.”

Adam laughed and pumped himself once, then tightened fingers around the base. “I know the feeling.” He tore his eyes from watching McG finger his ass to grab a condom and put it on. By the time he was done. McG was slowly rubbing his cock with a lube slicked hand. “You ready to fuck me?”

He was. Fuck. 

Adam crawled over to McG and leaned over him while still on all fours. McG stretched up and kissed him, real sweet on the mouth. Nuzzled their noses together, which made Adam smile. “So damn sappy.”

“Yep,” McG agreed. “Now get inside me already.” And he brought his knees up to his chest.

It had been a while since Adam felt the tight heat of a man’s ass closing around his dick. There was no real resistance. Still, Adam went slowly, savoring the feeling of McG’s ring gripping him as he took every inch. “Fuck. Fuck.” McG’s face was screwed up and Adam couldn’t read it over his own intense pleasure. 

“You okay?”

“Yeah.” Another grunt.

Adam smoothed out his motion, thrust in, ease out, over and over. Slowly. Smoothly. 

“Talk to me.”

McG didn’t need to be told twice. He grabbed one of Adam’s hands, wrapped it around his aching hard dick, and opened his mouth to let everything spill right out. “You’re so fucking hard in my ass right now. God, I didn’t know you could feel like this, even when we were kissing and kissing and, fuck, I mean, I wanted to fuck you, wanted you rocking into me like this, I did. Fuck, I really did. Every time you moaned and let me lick into your mouth. We should have been fucking this whole time, because God you feel so big and good, so good. You’re so good. Gonna make me -”

Adam stole the words out of his mouth with a kiss. If McG kept running that filthy mouth, he’d never make it long enough to get them both off. This hot push and pull they had, it had to last. Adam adjusted his grip on McG’s dick to add a twist at the end of his strokes. Just a bit longer.

As if he understood where the balance was, McG gripped the scruff of Adam’s neck and pulled. Not hard - just enough to get him to lift hazy eyes to his. Of course. McG always knew how to balance them. Adam saw it on his face and a minute later, Adam’s near-desperate hips caught up with their pause. 

McG let him in on his plan. “I wanna ride you.”

“Yeah.” Adam rolled his hips up and pulled out his dick. “Yeah, that’s...that’d be good.”

They moved together, Adam laying back on the pillows at the head of the bed, McG coming up over him and lining himself up just right. “Been thinking about this,” he said as he sank back down onto Adam’s dick with a moan. 

Where Adam had been barely holding things together, giving the rhythm everything he could, McG was ruthless and wanton and Adam was in awe. He leaned back until Adam was rubbing right over the spot that brought him up to the edge. “Oh yeah...That’s - so good, Adam.”

It was the look on his face as much as the tight heat on his dick squeezing over and over that had Adam ready to come as soon as he knew he was in the clear. “God. Adam.” McG whined as he switched from holding his own dick up against his belly to squeezing and rubbing. He took Adam’s hand and added it to his own, both of them pulling while McG’s thighs kept him bouncing up and down, leaning back at just the right angle. 

He looked so good, felt so good, Adam wasn’t sure he could hold back the tide of pleasure pooling in his groin. “Fuck I’m gonna come!”

“Almost there, baby. Almost - can you - hold on for me?”

“Yeah.” Adam promised. “Yeah, I can. I, oh, fuck, oh!”

The pulsing of come out of McG painted across Adam’s chest and abs. As the doc started to come down from the initial wave of pleasure, he realized Adam was panting beneath him not in release, but with the extraordinary willpower he knew his captain prided in himself. “Adam?” McG sounded so wrecked. “‘S your turn. You wanna come in my ass or my mouth?”

He didn’t even open his eyes. “Fuck - ass.”

And McG started swiveling his hips again, adding to the new rise and fall. “Gonna make you feel so good. Just as good as you made me, coming all over you…”

Adam thought McG kept talking him through his orgasm, but he couldn’t hear anything over the white out rush of endorphins and hazy crash of the wave that had been building over him. When he finally managed to get his eyes open, McG was laying up on the pillows next to him, a wet washcloth in hand. 

“I was going to suggest another shower, but you seem to favor passing out a bit after sex.”

“Shower later. For sure.”

The way the doc snorted with laughter, Adam knew that would be a sure thing.


	10. Maybe Fucking Didn't Quite Clear Up Everything...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soooo close to getting Jazzy involved...

The team was reconvening at 1100 hours to head home. Well, back to base.

At 0200 hours, Adam woke McG while slipping out of bed. A fuzzy, “Where you going?” followed Adam across the room.

“Shower,” he replied, still sleepy himself. “You coming?”

Lazy kisses and fancy hotel soap and hot water that was nearly endless, even if they were both too tired to make the most of it.

At 0900 hours, McG woke Adam at the buzzing of an alarm. “Hey, beautiful. You get enough sleep?”

Instead of responding, Adam rolled from his back onto his belly and threw an arm across McG. A warm, almost-snuggly Adam? McG wasn’t sure which direction he wanted this to take, they were all so lovely. “Is that a ‘no, you didn’t get enough sleep’ or a ‘yes, I want to stay in bed with you?’”

The groan in response was muffled by a fluffy pillow; McG heard clearly Adam’s, “Yes. Both.”

McG figured if Adam really wanted to get fucked, he would ask for it. Last night had certainly demonstrated he had the capability of doing so. Spectacularly. Fucking gloriously. Since he hadn’t, McG rolled up and over himself, resettled half partially on top of Adam, front pressed into his back and one long thigh snuggled in between his legs.

Thought he heard a slurry, “Feel good,” as Adam sank deeper into the mattress and fell back asleep.

At 1000 hours, Adam woke to the lovely sensation of a hard cock pressing between his cheeks. They’d both dressed in their briefs after showering on the off chance someone came to their door. Now, Adam could feel his own length straining the cotton while McG snuffled behind him, arm starting to shift as he woke.

“Mmmm, next alarm go off yet?”

Reaching for his phone meant Adam had to stretch away from the warm body lying next to him. “Nope.”

“Mmm, then get back here.” With that, a strong arm reached Adam’s side and pulled him back. Adam looked over his shoulder into the motion and saw the kiss coming. In fact, he groaned into it with the anticipation of that mouth on his, a bit of a rasp from the surrounding scruff.

“Means we got a bit more time before we gotta leave to meet the team.” Adam hadn’t thought it that late, so he unlocked the phone in his hand.

“We really don’t, McG. Gotta get dressed, eat something.” _Look presentable._ It was hard remembering not to say that last bit out loud with one of McG’s palms flat on his belly, rubbing just barely side to side. Or the low voice tempting him right along the skin under his ear.

“That won’t take us an hour. We got a little bit of time, don’t we?”

"McGuire." Adam leaned away.

McG was honestly a bit taken aback. He put a few more inches distance between them as he said. “I’m not pushing you into anything.” Adam rolled over. The sincerity and second-guessing on the good doc’s face woke Adam up more than the need to make a quick decision had.

“No, you wouldn’t. But you are enjoying this,” he clarified. "Wanting too many things." Adam spoke through his hands rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and the rest of his face. McG resettled on top of him, torso between his legs.

“Sleepy, sexy Adam Dalton debating whether he might consider being late on account of fooling around with me in bed? Damn right I’m enjoying this!”

Usually when McG got that look, he was mouthing off in the field or teasing Jaz a bit too far. Feeling that dry, silently commanding gaze almost-naked in bed with him? That was better. Especially since he got to do what he did next.

Cupped Adam’s head, leaned in for a very slow, very thorough kiss, and asked, “Think I can make you come in the next ten minutes?” The nodding close to his face seemed enthusiastic. Best to be sure, though.

McG rolled them over so he could look down at his new lover. “You sure? Wouldn’t want to make you show up all late and...flustered.”

“McGuire.” Adam slid his hands down McG’s back to grab his ass and give a roll of his hips. Still hard from waking up, Adam knew he could get there. Hell, even starting from scratch it wouldn’t have been much of a challenge. Not with that fucking sexy look on McG’s face as he reached down and slid Adam’s briefs down over his legs. A brief pause to get naked himself and then McG settled back between Adam’s legs.

“Remember last night?” A hand rubbed up and down from his groin to his inner thigh. “When I got just a quick taste?” A lick up the other side, a thumb tickling across his balls. “Wanna make you come in my mouth this time.” A hot, wet mouth sucking just the tip of his dick. Then a tug on his hand, reminding him of that tether last night, and dark eyes looking up at his.

“I’ll be ready to go whenever you are, kay?” Adam noticed the flexing motion of McG’s shoulder as he tugged on himself. And then he sank his mouth down on Adam, who spent the next ten minutes trying not to thrust, not to forget to tell McG how good his mouth felt, his finger felt inside him, not to come too fast, not to lose sight of mission timeline. He won all around.

The two of them were not late to meet the rest of the team. In fact, Jaz was the only one already in the lobby and, by the looks of it, she had been there a while. “Morning. Sleep well?” She asked, all prim and polite nonchalance. McG thought he saw Adam’s ears get red before he decided to go grab coffee while they waited for the others.

=====><=====

McG had lost whatever phase they were at - didn’t matter. What mattered was that Adam was clearly still working out what it meant to have half-confessed (fully obvious) feelings for Jaz while being given the green light to sleep with his friend. Her friend. _Their_ teammate. McG knew Adam lived by a different set of social rules and honor code in his sexual and romantic life. This was just part of taking care with their relationship.

It wasn’t alright that Top spoke barely a word to him during their travels home, sitting with Jaz, teasing her about razzing Amir. Making plans to beat both her and Preach on tomorrow’s run. But it was fixable. McG could handle this. This was just the next phase in their operation.

So. Normalizing the kissing went so well that McG decided what they needed was to normalize the idea of Jaz being just as much a part of this as either of them. If she was part of the relationship, Adam wouldn’t feel like he was stepping out. You know, from his possibly-in-the-future relationship.

=====><=====

McG didn’t have to make a sound to wake Adam when he entered his room in the dark. The man had instincts born of unbelievable training and a lifetime of self-preservation.  
“McGuire?” He whispered into the dark. Heard the whoosh of fabric and smelled the same everloving sexy musk from the hotel room. “Want some company?”

The barest of pauses. Then Adam replied with the most transparent of non-answers.

“If we’re fucking here, we gotta be quiet.”

Adam swore he heard the smirk through the darkness. The bed dipped below added weight as all six feet two inches of Joseph McGuire joined him. In bed. On base.

It had been weeks since that hand had last wrapped around him. McG’s hands were already moving over his skin, dipping below his waistband and traveling back up across his chest. Apparently, he remembered how sensitive his nipples were as he worked back and forth between them and coming just shy of his rapidly hardening cock.

Until they actually ventured further under his pants to finally, finally wrap around him. Adam had to choke back a moan, he couldn’t help it. God, he was fucked.

“Mm-mmm. Not a sound when you come, Adam.”

“Hey, my noise discipline is tight. You’re the one was telling me not to hold back while you -”

McG kissed down to interrupt that thought. Redirect it. “Your noise discipline better be tight. I wanna talk about Jaz.” It wasn’t his fault if Adam’s hips chose that moment to buck up.

So low, in the dark. “Think you like thinking about that, why we should be talking about her, while we’re…”

“Fuck!”

“Shhhhh.” McG made the universal sign of a finger over his lips and Adam let it press against him before sucking it in.

“If I suck you off, will you stop talking about -” McG would have put solid money on Adam jerking his head in the direction of the room next door. What could he say? He was easily bought off with sex. “Yep.”

And when he came, McG was perfectly silent before challenging Adam to do the same, get off with thoughts of Jaz swirling around his head, McG’s tongue swirling around his head, too. And their favorite sniper in bed just next door.

=====><=====

It was a few weeks before they had another stolen hour or two, this time alone in an SUV Adam had signed out for errands. He had lots of things to do, including McG, apparently.

They were necking like a couple of teenagers, like they did back before confessions were overheard and shared and permission fucking given. Adam was sitting in McG’s lap and they were grinding so good, McG was starting to think they could get off just like this, he really was. Might need to start thinking about a backup plan for explaining why they’d made a mess of their pants. Was about to share that thought in the next break, as their mouths came up for air and Adam panted real sweet into his neck.

What came out of his mouth instead was, “Think Jaz would tell us both to get naked already?”

“Haaaaa-uggghh!”

And then Adam was undoing his fly, getting his hand around his own dick. McG batted his hand out of the way and took over. He kept it slower, more measured than Adam’s movements suggested he planned to be. A few strokes in, he added, “Bet we could tell her we don’t need to follow her rules.” Rubbing and rubbing in circles, just under his head. Adam’s hips were stuttering and his moans were stuttering and McG knew he was unbelievably close.

“Show her we know exactly how to get you off.” McG squeezed the length of him all while his thumb kept moving, right in that same devastating spot and Adam went off. Whining and eyes squeezed shut with not even a single move to contain himself.

McG was the only one needing a crafty alibi for the state of his clothes upon their return.

=====><=====

They enjoyed a few months of fucking and fooling around, sometimes with Jaz’s name between them, sometimes with just the excitement of a few stolen moments to themselves. McG needed to up his game. He resolved to wait until the next time they had an overnight someplace decent, someplace they could get...chatty.

That night, Adam drew the single room straw and, eyes offering a silent apology, insisted they draw again. Wasn’t right they even included the CO, he said. When Jaz drew the second round, McG thought he caught a twinkle in his leaders’ baby blues.

“I call dibs on Preach.” Amir was clearly at the ready.

“Done!” Preach’s cheerfulness was unmistakable. “A night without nasal interruptions is like a blessed gift from above.”

The snoring culprit in question put up just enough fuss not to draw any attention before they headed off to elevator banks at opposite ends of the lobby. Jaz was the only one to send a smirk and a smile over her shoulder in their direction. McG thought Adam had caught it from the telltale rosiness in his ears as they entered the lift.

The two of them got to their room, got cozy, got going on each other. McG was still peeling off his pants when he started.

“So. Jaz knows we’re fucking, right?”

Adam stumbled out of his own pants right into McG’s arms, mouth finding his on experience as much as instinct now. The moan he gave was just a bit hotter than he usually ran this early in their adventures.

“Ahh, you like thinking about that, hunh? Gets you all...mmm.” An interruption of momentum and a tangle of limbs as Adam fell back, taking McG with him. That heavy weight above him for the moment before McG caught his bearings and lifted onto his arms crushed Adam so definitively. Exactly what how he wanted to be grounded here, in this moment.

“I don’t wanna think about Jaz right now.”

“But thinking about...Jaz…” He licked a stripe up Adam’s pec. “...how she’s thinking about you, this…” He licked another path, this time running right over his nipple. “‘s got you hot.”

He did something mind blowing with the edge of his teeth and then continued. “Think this, we, get Jaz hot, too?”

God, that filthy mouth. Adam took McG’s head between his hands and guided it back over that same sensitive nub. “Don’t need Jaz to get me hot.” McG laved where he had just nipped. “Unnnhhh! Jesus, you do just fine.”

The doc kept his mouth close to Adam’s skin. “I do, hunh?” That was good to hear, he thought. “Still think we should be talking ‘bout Jaz, though. Maybe even talking about doing more than that.”

Adam was arching up, pushing against McG without really trying to get out from under him. In fact, he’d wrapped one thigh around McG and he gave a good slow rub up against his thick cock.

“God, can’t you just get in me first?”

McG smirked. “First?”

“Fuck - we can talk ‘bout Jaz later, man. I swear.”

One hand under his lower back and another on his side, McG flipped him face-first into the mattress. If the mouth sucking and nipping a trail down his back was headed where Adam thought it was going, he was going to have a hard time holding out. Of course, McG, fucking sex god, knew it.

“Make you a deal. You keep talking about Jaz - anything you want, why you chose her for Omega Seven, what you thought when you met, whatever - and I’ll keep eating you out.” He rubbed his thumb over Adam’s asshole once in demonstration. Adam was quiet, though he let himself be moved up onto his knees, his legs spread while McG got comfortable between them.

“Adam?” Asked in his Checking In Voice. Fuck, just as Adam thought he couldn’t get any more turned on.

“Fuck. Fuck, I never even met her when I started vetting snipers...just - ah!”

True to both their words, Adam kept talking. Nothing explicit except McG’s taunting tongue between them. McG didn’t let up until Adam was too strung out to make words do the thing. And then he slid inside and finished them both off without any other mention of this particular kink now growing between them.

=====><=====

After that, McG figured it was time to loop Jaz back into everything going on.

“You’re doing what?”

“Sneak Attack Fucking. Like - before, with the kissing. Only…”

Jaz made herself more comfortable opposite McG at the foot of his bed. This was going to be good.

“What, just like, grabbing him and fucking him? Around base? How come none of us have heard you?”

McG shared a conspiratory look, “You have no idea how sneaky that man is. Fucking ninja when he wants to be!”

 _’Fucking ninja’ is my nickname,_ a not-quite-jealous voice inside Jaz pointed out. And because the best defense was a good offense, she added out loud, “You haven’t been able to get him to make some noise?”

“Ha! That first night - the one you arranged in the hotel? The first time? Thought I was going to have to cover his mouth to keep the other guests from calling management on us. Would have, if I hadn’t been enjoying it so much myself.”

“Jesus. That’s an image.”

It sounded like their usual banter - trading details from their conquests off base. There was either something dreadfully interesting in Jaz’s lap, though, or there was something she was trying to hide how much she didn’t want McG to see. Badly. Was she mad they were fucking? She’d told Top to go ahead.

Jealous? Because McG could work with envy. He really could.

“Mostly it’s me running my mouth, though - whatever I can say to get him going. Try to push him over the edge first.”

Jaz smirked at that one; she was well aware of McG’s competitive side, especially when it came to being a thorough lover.

“Turns out talking about you does the trick.”

Ah. Lap not so interesting all of a sudden.

“What. Have you. Been doing?”

“Nothing...explicit! Ow!” Yes, yes, the pillow whack was reinforcement that ‘explicit’ was the name of the game here. “Just - reminding him. He has _permission_.”

McG snuck a look to see if that was sufficient back-peddling before continuing. “He likes thinking about how you know we’re doing this. Get him hot.”

Hunh. So that’s what Jaz looks like indecisive.

“You know, you could join in. If you wanted.”

“What!?” She wasn’t outraged, he didn’t think, so much as genuinely taken aback.

McG would have pressed on, eased Jaz into thinking about how this might work if there hadn’t been a knock on his door.

“Come on in!” Jaz yelled before he could put them off.

 _Speak of the devil._ Top was already talking as he leaned around the door. “Hey, I was wondering if you have any of that lotion you used in…” As soon as he saw Jaz, his request died off.

“That Origins stuff? Lotion’s running low, but I have some of their shampoo you can have.” McG caught brought Adam’s attention back to him with a flirtatious, “Smells the same, if that’s what you’re after.” The same as the steam in the bathroom when a very naked Adam Dalton finally dared McG to take this thing between them all the way.

“Uh, I uh. Don’t wanna cause a fuss.”

“He might act like a child much of the time, but you gotta admit: McG smells damn good. You should take the shampoo, Top.”

Adam stood there in the doorway, one foot inside the room, watching as Jaz entered the conversation like she was already a part of it. Just when McG thought he was going to bolt, he nodded in affirmation at the doc, who hopped up off the bed to grab it. He thought about making Adam actually come to him to get it, then thought better of it. Man already looked spooked around the wide eyes and parted lips. A toss in his direction and Adam caught the small bottle out of the air.

They shared ways to make necessities a bit more personal all the time. Little everyday luxuries. The look Adam passed from McG to Jaz, though, made this something the three of them now shared. Something Adam would take with him into his shower, make him think of the three of them while he lathered up, smelling like the guy he was sometimes fucking.

The door closed and Jaz looked up at McG. “I’ll think about it.”

**Author's Note:**

> oh lord, McG's gonna get Jaz involved. and with lots of feeeeeels, ugh. 
> 
> andsmut.
> 
> Come bug me on tumblr if you have Thoughts about these three that need discussing...same gentlesquid-andink name over there!


End file.
